Your Climate Gate Primer: Complete with stats, facts, and a game of make-believe.

On the days that I drive to San Francisco, I pick up carpoolers. This means I get to play frogger across 5 lanes of traffic to get into the car pool lane. For the few moments it takes to cross the five lanes of traffic all parts of my brain are engaged at once, I am looking ahead, looking behind, and always checking my blind spot. You never know what's going to show up in the blind spot. I got to thinking it's just like working on climate change issues: a constant examination of history, a constant process of visioning the future, and a constant process of checking your blind spot.

The recent scandal that is being referred to as Climate Gate was hiding in the blind spot. The very concept that all of the information we have been basing our stories, our Public Service Announcements, our policies, and most important, our fears upon could be wrong....well that just wasn't on the itinerary.

I have received shocked and at times annoyed requests from the Current Green community about why I didn't jump on this story. And frankly, I mean REALLY FRANKLY, I didn't think it deserved any time. Because really:

Even if it were true, that there are scientists out there who are suppressing information that global warming is not created by humans, does it change anything?

I still go to my faucet and get dirty water, I still go to the fish market and know that we are over fishing the oceans and that the majority of the fish have poisons in them and are dangerous to eat. I still know that the air I am breathing is the cleanest it has been since the 1980's due to the clean air act cutting down on emissions, I still know that the majority of the vegetables made available to most Americans are made from genetically modified seeds, and I still know that the rate of consumption is filling the oceans with plastics. I hate to be Debbie Downer, but really, even if the temperature isn't rising because of human impact, we still have a plethora of critical issues that need to be addressed pronto.

Now that last paragraph just summed up my greatest fear: that people will make the association that human impact on the environment is the same as human impact on climate change. The two issues are so woven together they are nearly impossible to separate. So lets play a game of make-believe. Let's pretend that climate change is not created by humans.

You might be thinking, I don't want to play a game of make-believe. Cut to the chase, what do I need to know? Ok, well fine. Here are the basics:


Josh Nelson of Enviroknow posted a stellar piece, and I appreciated his concise breakdown of info you are probably curious about:

• The scientific consensus on climate change remains strong.


• The impacts of catastrophic climate change continue to rear their ugly head.


• Hacking into private computer files is illegal.


• All of the emails were taken out of context.


• The story is being pushed by far-right conspiracy theorists.


• Scientists are human beings and they talk frankly amongst themselves.

Now you might be thinking, But what's the story and how did this all go down?

1. An undisclosed group hacked into the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England and publicized over 1,000 emails.

2. A majority of them were nit picky gossipy emails. (Can we say embarrassing?) About 40 of them openly discuss the data and how they disagree or want to influence it.

So you might be thinking...I took a basic statistics class in college and know that every number I look at whether it be about business, Wall Street, or climate stats is manipulated in one way or another...Whats all the hoopla about?

There is an uproar that there are people out there who will financially gain in the process of developing new economic systems that support efforts to make a cleaner planet. And of course, if some people will gain, others are set to lose.

But don't let me influence your ideas...let these guys at it: Josh Nelson has led the way in reclaiming the term "climate gate" and has renamed the event "swifthack" which is essentially what happened.

David Roberts of Grist magazine posted a comprehensive discussion on the ramifications of this event, and recently added commentary form  an interview on Washington Post with science historian Spencer Weart:

The theft and use of the emails does reveal something interesting about the social context. It’s a symptom of something entirely new in the history of science: Aside from crackpots who complain that a conspiracy is suppressing their personal discoveries, we’ve never before seen a set of people accuse an entire community of scientists of deliberate deception and other professional malfeasance.

Even the tobacco companies never tried to slander legitimate cancer researchers. In blogs, talk radio and other new media, we are told that the warnings about future global warming issued by the national science academies, scientific societies, and governments of all the leading nations are not only mistaken, but based on a hoax, indeed a conspiracy that must involve thousands of respected researchers.

Kevin Granada posted an interview with Michael Mann on Huffington Post. Mann is one of the scientists discussed in the emails, and discussed the emails and what they meant.

And Brian Merchant wrote an articulate piece that included the following points:

...It seems that many skeptics have been so eager to have the theory of anthropogenic global warming 'proven' false they haven't bothered to construct a viable motive for their conspiracies, which are often led by Al Gore and now the scientists at the CRU. Either that, or they simply aren't considering anything at all--their denial is a prolonged reaction against something they feel will cause an infringement upon their personal freedoms, and has no true logical basis.

It's one thing to disagree with the conclusions drawn from studies, believe that more research needs to be done, or deny the findings--it's quite another to actually feel that there's an ill-meaning cabal of elite scientists who are constructing a vast conspiracy. But that's what some people actually believe--

....People's concerns that global warming will force them to give up luxuries and comforts, and will lead to government regulation, has obviously been targeted by oil and coal companies. But while they can stir fear, and spread doubt, one thing they cannot do is provide a valid reason why scientists--the vast majority of those in the field--should conspire to push a hoax onto the international community....

What should we be paying attention to?

The timing of course. Just moments before Copenhagen, one of the most critical meetings in history that will determine world wide policy and the roles and responsibility our countries play regarding the health of our planet... there are people planting seeds of doubt that what we are seeing on the planet isn't created by human activity.

What we are witnessing is people who are deeply entrenched in denial. What makes my skin crawl in fear, is that there are people, organizations, and media companies who are willing to put there time, energy, and money into distracting you from focusing on one of the most important issues of our time: holding your political and business leaders accountable for developing systems and policy that will guarantee that we do not destroy the planet we are living on.

But if you want to go on and freak out about about a few emails from some scientists, go right ahead. I'll freak out with you. I'll sit with you in a pool of concern that there are scientists all over the planet who report that there research is saying one thing, and we are going to give all of our attention to this small group of scientists. I'm going to go play make-believe that they didn't feel so desperate to make their point they were willing to bend the rules and provide just enough fuel to create a very large distraction.


I'm going to make believe that it's ok that Fox news is attacking people who are working to create a safe and healthy planet.

I'm going to play make believe that I'm not confused by the fact that anyone is surprised.

I'm going to play make-believe that this isn't what I'm really thinking right now: Scientific evidence is complex. Remember? They taught that to you in your math class when they showed you how all numbers and statistics are manipulated. And if you didn't know that, stop pointing fingers at Al Gore, scientists, and lobbyist, and start pointing fingers at your government if you didn't receive the education that teaches and develops critical thinking skills you need to survive in the world we live in.

(this post was updated on Nov 1)


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